Media coverage of "leftover men and women" has been widespread in China over the years, raising concerns over this increasingly serious social problem. A new report released by China's top health authority has once again highlighted the issue. The Report on Chinese Family Development 2015 was released by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, who conducted a survey of almost 32,500 households. The result shows that against the backdrop of population migration and big differences between urban and rural areas, unmarried men of all ages are largely limited to the countryside, while unmarried women are concentrated in urban areas. The report also reveals the trend that an increasing number of men marry women much younger than they are, and that they prefer women in rural areas. This is because it is difficult to find a spouse of their age or in their cities. In some impoverished areas, two percent of the men over 50 years old are still single. Interestingly, statistics also show that the number of single women in cities who are over 30 is much higher than that in the countryside, because the former group is usually well-educated, more financially independent, and prefers career development to marriage. CRIEnglish.com |